Igorot
Working Definition:
This term was used by Dean C. Worcester, while head of the Bureau of Non-Christian Tribes, to describe peoples of Northern Luzon and widely adopted by colonists, scholars, and local communities. Analyn Salvador-Amores explains, “Worcester mistakenly used the term Igorot to refer to all the ethnolinguistic groups living in the mountains of the Cordillera, including the Kalinga, Ifugao, Bontoc, Isneg, Kankanaey, and Ibaloy. These groups occupied the areas that are now the provinces of Abra, Apayao, Benguet, Ifugao, Kalinga, and the Mountain Province.” Salvador-Amores further writes, “Nowadays it is more acceptable to refer to the highland groups as ‘indigenous peoples” or “indigenous cultural communities.’ However, contemporary highland groups have appropriated the word Igorot as a proud declaration of their social identity, especially among the younger generation.”
Related Terms:
Suggestions for Further Reading:
Analyn Salvador-Amores, “Afterlives of Dean C. Worcester’s Colonial Photographs: Visualizing Igorot Material Culture, from Archives to Anthropological Fieldwork in Northern Luzon,” Visual Anthropology, Vol. 29 (2016): 54-80